


green sea

by vhscassette



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: M/M, dragon ball - Freeform, pre-saiyan saga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-28 20:56:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14457579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vhscassette/pseuds/vhscassette
Summary: Tien Shinhan had a lot of regrets in life.





	green sea

As Tien sat on the warm beach, he wrapped his arms around his knees and stared at the dark ocean. The moon was a mere circular shard at this point, narrowly illuminating the waves just enough that Tien could spot the individual surges of water. Sleep exhaustion was starting to set in, the near-constant nights of sleeplessness tossing him throughout the night.

  
Tien's thoughts began to wander further back to the Twenty-Second Martial Arts tournament. He had already knocked Yamcha out cold; what was wrong with his damned mind for him to break his leg, too? The darkness inside his mind clawed repeatedly as Tien tried stopping the thoughts. The thoughts persevered.

"Tien, stop hitting yourself," Yamcha firmly spoke as he walked out the creaky front door of Kame House. Tien, fists now frozen, visibly jumped and turned in shock to face Yamcha.

  
"You're-... You're supposed to be asleep, Yamcha." Tien muttered in surprise. Another part of him wanted to add, 'go back to bed and let me fester on my own.' Yamcha just shook his head and sighed.

  
"Well, I'm not. Surprise," Yamcha tiredly yawned as he rubbed his eye with one hand and jazz-hand'ed with the other. "It's hard _not_ to notice when you're gone. It just.. feels weird." Yamcha continued, voice returning back to his regular sleepy tone.

  
Pardon?

  
"Anyway, seriously," Yamcha mumbled, taking a place directly beside Tien on the beach, "stop hurting yourself like that. Talk to me. What's going on?"

  
Tien felt hesitation crawl up his spine. How does he explain what happened for so long behind closed doors? How could he explain the crippling guilt that he felt for beating the everloving shit out of so many people, including Yamcha himself? How does he explain that he still feels the crunch of Yamcha's leg bone snapping under him in his nightmares? Words formed into bridges that burned at his feet, and Tien wasn't sure if he wanted to even cross it yet. Yamcha, however, sleepy as he was, politely glanced at Tien and waited for a response.

Frustration bubbled up in Tien's stomach. It was obvious Yamcha would wait here all damned night if he had to, and for whatever reason, he wasn't sure if that pissed him off or made him oddly thankful. Tien sighed, closed all of his eyes, and thought of how to explain. Tien, of course, was never the best with words.

"Well," Tien quietly mumbled, the ocean's waves slowly trailing behind his voice before pausing. Yamcha remained relaxed, blinking at him softly. Oddly enough, Yamcha's presence in itself has made a strange difference in how he's felt. "I feel guilty, Yamcha," Tien quietly admitted, "for all the horrible things I've done in life-- your leg definitely not excluded."

Yamcha's eyes opened a bit wide--wide for a tired Yamcha, that is-- at the confession. He was quiet for a few moments, Tien's stomach churning with guilt and all three eyes looking away in nervous anticipation.

'You fucked up, Shinhan,' Tien's thoughts angrily kicked at him, 'and you don't deserve forgiveness from that shit. You're scum of the earth.' Yamcha, however, suddenly chuckled with a musical kind of softness. Only as Tien opened his eyes and mind to question him did he notice Yamcha leaning over to him and wrapping his arms around him.

  
"C'mo--n, Shinhan. I forgive you. I _forgave_ you months ago," Yamcha soothingly murmured, causing Tien's heart rate to strangely increase in both what he believed to be affection and severe confusion at said affection. "Besides, you were raised by a _really_ shitty guy. Really shitty guys aren't what you are. You're, well," Yamcha paused for words, his mind obviously stuttering over lack of sleep, "a really  _great_ guy."

  
Tien was frozen for a few moments, mind attempting to sort out the strange influx of feelings that was now bursting into his system before his train of thought derailed and crashed. Yamcha's arms were warm, the sand was warm, his head was fogging with exhaustion, and the comforting touch was definitely striking a chord with the severe lack of physical affection that Tien's ever felt in his life.

Tien laughed. Uncontrollably, as if he'd heard the funniest joke in his life, Tien laughed at the situation.

  
A memory of love slowly rose to the surface of Tien's mind, an intangible shape in the warm ocean of his soul.

  
And then, Tien Shinhan cried for the first time in a very long time, arms clutching the back of Yamcha's pajamas as he weeped for forgiveness.


End file.
